Nobody doubts that adding a master password will stop nobody who knows what they are doing. If someone has access to your computer and wants to do damage, they have full access to do it.
However, keep in mind 'open door' syndrome. A crime of opportunity is very different than one of bad intentions. Leave a car unlocked with a $20 bill on the seat and you might find that $20 gone when you return. Now, if you lock the doors the odds are it will still be there when you return. The fact is that when you increase the barrier to doing evil, many give it up. A potentially honest person might open a door and take something but if they must now break a window to accomplish the same task many will not pursue it.
Having to potentially download a third party program to decrypt the password DB and/or run additional commands is very different that just navigating to the chrome settings page. Its almost akin to why so many coworkers always jacked each others wallpaper when they forgot to lock their computer. They could have still done it even though the computer was locked, but they did not because it was too much work.
Also, going off what you have said, the "locking" process in windows is pointless since it offers a false sense of security. It can be broken just by rebooting the computer with a boot disk, right? So why include it? Because its useful.
Completely agree here. This isn't about providing a sense of security as much as making it more difficult for co-workers or even friends to steal each other's passwords.
Just because I forgot to lock the door of my house, doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to hide and secure some valuables I don't want stolen that easily.
If chrome ever removes that setting, I will make chromereveal.com with one-click idiot-proof password dumping tool, and step-by step instructions. So hiding that button will not make it harder for your friends.
that does make it psychologically harder - I have to go to a site with clear malicious intention, rather than pay a visit to a setting which the browser itself provides.
For the sake of argument, I'll answer this with s/wife/friends/
Yes, if I'm not besides it, I will switch user accounts. And if I walk away from my computer for a bit, I lock it (except when there are no untrusted people around, like at home). I have "Lock Screen" bound to Ctrl-Alt-L, so it's trivial to do.
A potentially honest person might open a door and take something
I actually don't think this is the case. An honest person would not open a car door if they saw a note in the car. Sure crooks and theives would, but honest people don.t
As a counter-example, just look at what happens sometimes when you lose your phone or wallet. Oftentimes you get it back. A lot of people are honest.
Sure, but the number of people who would take it is greater than the number of people who will actively take it from your pocket, or from your locked house. A lot of people are honest does not exclude the fact that people can be opportunistic.
However, keep in mind 'open door' syndrome. A crime of opportunity is very different than one of bad intentions. Leave a car unlocked with a $20 bill on the seat and you might find that $20 gone when you return. Now, if you lock the doors the odds are it will still be there when you return. The fact is that when you increase the barrier to doing evil, many give it up. A potentially honest person might open a door and take something but if they must now break a window to accomplish the same task many will not pursue it.
Having to potentially download a third party program to decrypt the password DB and/or run additional commands is very different that just navigating to the chrome settings page. Its almost akin to why so many coworkers always jacked each others wallpaper when they forgot to lock their computer. They could have still done it even though the computer was locked, but they did not because it was too much work.
Also, going off what you have said, the "locking" process in windows is pointless since it offers a false sense of security. It can be broken just by rebooting the computer with a boot disk, right? So why include it? Because its useful.